The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hibiscus, botanically known as Hibiscus syriacus, commercially known as Rose-of-Sharon or Althea, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Notwood3’.
The new Hibiscus plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lynn, United Kingdom. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Hibiscus cultivars with unique flower shapes and coloration, uniform plant habit and hardiness.
The new Hibiscus plant originated from a cross-pollination during the summer of 2001 of a proprietary seedling selection of Hibiscus syriacus identified as code number 219, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary seedling selection of Hibiscus syriacus identified as code number 202-717, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Hibiscus plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in August, 2003 as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Lynn, United Kingdom.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hibiscus plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lynn, United Kingdom since the spring of 2004 has shown that the unique features of this new Hibiscus plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.